General Motors Eyeing A Truck Below Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon?

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Shared by Tim Esterdahl to GM Authority.

For several years, there have been plenty of conversations on bringing a small, compact truck, ala the 1970’s-80’s size, back to the U.S. market. Now, GM may seriously be considering bringing one to market. Here is what we know.

It seems that a few sources finally wilted to the pressure of a barrage of questions by a Jalopink journalist. The story goes that while speaking off-the-record, these sources slipped and spoke about a “new LUV project.”

The speculation is that GM will build a version very similar to the current the Brazilian-built Chevrolet Montana truck, currently available in the Latin America region. This is essentially just an updated Chevy LUV that was sold in the U.S. from 1972-1981 when it was replaced by the S-10. (FYI – LUV stands for light utility vehicle). The current Chevy Montana is powered by a 1.4L 4-cylinder with a 5-speed manual transmission.

Before people get to excited about a compact with a manual transmission, it is far more likely that GM will just use their 6-speed automatic with the base 4 cylinder offered in the new 2015 Chevy Colorado and 2015 GMC Canyon.

The interior of the Chevy Montana will need some updating, but it isn’t so bad. And as an alternative, check out the GMC Granite CPU Concept.

Pros to the LUV

One of the first things bringing the LUV back brings to mind is that it helps compliment GM’s current strategy of offering a product for each customer. It also helps fill a void. For many city and small farm operators, the full-size truck just isn’t practical and/or it is way more powerful than their current needs. A small truck to go fix fence or to bring home landscape products back from the store is needed for many customers.

Another plus for the LUV is that GM could increase its fleet business. While consumers would like a truck like this, fleet customers would as well. For example, when Ford discontinued the Ranger, they lost many vehicle sales to the Tacoma. They thought fleet customers would simply move up to the F-150. Companies like Orkin disagreed and went with the smaller Tacoma. Why? It was easier to drive and their employees could more easily reach into the bed. A smaller Chevy LUV would be even more ideal for those tasks.

Also, it could appeal to a new market of younger car buyers who can’t afford nor want the larger full-size trucks. I’m speaking of course of the Gen Y buyers who so far have not bought as many new vehicles as previous generations. In fact, Scion had considered a compact truck for quite a while for this very same reason.

Lastly, this truck would fit nicely into GM’s efforts to meet the pending CAFE requirements. It is foreseeable that this truck could have outstanding fuel economy with a small footprint – in other words, be a CAFE dream.

Cons to the LUV

Even though it is great to offer a product for every type of customer, it isn’t always feasible. The truth is that profit margins on full-size trucks are pretty strong. This is a big reason why GM is holding to their pricing strategy on their new trucks and not offering additional incentives. With good profit and volume, this makes sense. However, in the smaller trucks, the profit is also smaller. What does this mean? If the volume isn’t there, GM will have to offer lots of incentives which could mean selling the truck at cost or for a loss.

The truth is that bringing a new compact truck to market is full of risk. While yes, you can visit any truck forum and find customers who want this option, it is hard to measure what the true demand really is in the U.S. Putting a lot of money into something that may not pan out is tough for any business. Yet, GM has been making a strong comeback as of late and a dud product could kill this momentum.

With all that said, GM isn’t averse to taking risk. GM’s Mark Reuss, Executive Vice President, Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain, recently said in an Automobile Magazine that critics said they couldn’t sell the Chevy Spark and the Buick Encore in the U.S. In fact, they are

selling really well and they are having trouble building enough supply of the Chevy Spark, according to Reuss, while the Encore just finished its first year of sales, exceeding expectations.

“I love doing things that make sense, that no one else is doing,” said Reuss.

What do you think? Is GM seriously considering a LUV remake? And are you on board with the idea?

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25 Comments

I believe that the little EL camino will sale, if the price is between $14,900 and $23,000. The small truck would be nice for Collage Kids and for the Ladies that need it to transport stuff for the garden.

Is it just me, or is GM forgetting some lessons learned? Way too many vehicles – and now adding more niche vehicles? This got Toyota into trouble with quality issues – and it’s dogged GM too.
Take a lesson from Honda: focus on certain segments and serve them well, while offering a superior product. There’s already too much duplication (i.e. the redundant GMC division that Chevy serves well in addition to Buick and Cadillac’s versions of the big SUV). Not to mention, the SS on top of the Malibu and Impala. Keep it simple or major problems ahead.

The lesson learned here was too many divisions with too many models. You can still do models like this in less divisions if you sell it globally. Models like this and the GMC line are the most profitable so there is no issues there.

Also some of these models are transitioning as other will go away before new ones appear. you have to consider what you don’t know.

As for this vehicle. I like the small truck Idea but I ponder the use of FWD? Truck owners are RWD people and In the past FWD trucks from VW and Dodge did not fare well.

Also I would like a little more size as this is a really small car. I would rather see one if they are doing FWD on a D2XX.

The small size truck would be perfect in fwd, I think the people interested in these would understand these trucks are not ment for extreme use they are for getting around town with a small load in the bed with Great mpgs

The problem with the Commodore Ute is outside of Australia it would cost as much as a full size truck here.

I would love one but too few others would bite.

My chief concern is the FWD. To this point the small FWD truck has been tried and it has not worked in this country. At this point has the market changed enough to be accepting of it? I see this as the greatest concern. Now if they made it RWD it would not be as light but I know people here would buy it.

But the HHR proved to be popular with business as we have many here that went to them. If they could do a small FWD truck that could so a bed or even a mini van back it could give options to many business. It also would increase volume ot help keep the price down. In America I would like to see it share the Cruze platform.

Right now many parts stores like Federated and Napa are using old Rangers or even a new Sonic to deliver parts. We have many companies here including plumbers that use the HHR and they are nearing the age of replacement.

But again is America ready for a FWD truck? This is the greatest unknown.

The front end looks like the Chevy Spark. So why not put in the Spark Ev electric powertrain and make it a BEV truck? Most small trucks are used by one-man shops for technical services (plumbers, electricians, carpenters, HVAC, etc), and travel around suburban homes and cities, so a clean BEV is ideal for them. Personally, I would buy a BEV truck!

We have been talking about this for years here at GMA long before our now resident expert Scott made an appearance (we do appreciate Scotts comments :-)) Anyway, my 2 cents are what about the Vans, GM is litteraly about to have the most dated Vans on the planet. Dont get me wrong I love me some express vans but seriously. The fact that GM was not planning or developing new Vans over say the last 5 to even 10 years is just amazing. Bring on the small trucks but lets also see a new van maybe on the Colorado platform utilizing the Diesel ect. Come on GM lets get the ball roling where it needs to be rolling . As for the small truck/utility vehicle absolutely its a no brainer after you update the commercial van though.

Yup, The LUV/ Isuzu p’up was a smash hit! They were fun to drive, and cheap, too. Then the S-10 came and was a favorite for years. BUT…I think the Colorado truck was/is crap. We had one,(2006 Z71) looked cool, fun to drive, but was unreliable and not as efficient as the Silverado (2011 Z71 4WD) that replaced it. I figure GM could resurrect the S-10 and get a favorable response from buyers tired of a big truck. However, please forget that 4 or 5 cylinder turd that came in the Colorado! And I agree with the pricing issue, why buy a small truck that costs like a big truck? I worked at a Chevy store in 1987 when S-10 trucks costed the same as the full size units, always made me wonder why. Also, I’ve owned three El Caminos, in ’87, Chevy couldn’t hardly give them away. I remember the last two were forced on the dealership by GM and stayed forever. I just can’t see the Holden version selling here.